OSHKOSH - The Experimental Aircraft Association is asking Oshkosh for nearly $2 million in financial assistance to help with building two new exhibit halls.

EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski says one of the two 72,000-square foot buildings would be built without the help -- called tax-increment financing or TIF.

EAA plans to invest $17.2 million into the grounds in the next decade.

According to a memo from Oshkosh Community Development Director Jackson Kinney, EAA is asking for the money to be paid only after improvements are made.

The money would come from additional property taxes generated by the new development in the proposed TIF district.

Each summer EAA holds AirVenture, which is billed as the world's largest gathering of recreational aviators.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)